TheDiggerNews
Gombe: A bloat of hippos went on a rampage Tuesday night, invading and devastating farmlands in Hinna Community, Yamaltu/Deba Local Government Area of Gombe State. Seventeen farms were reportedly destroyed in the incident, leaving residents counting heavy losses.
The affected farmers narrated their ordeal in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday. They said the beasts entered their farms and destroyed crops that were almost ready for harvesting.
They described the incident as a serious threat to food security and their livelihoods.
The head of farmers in the community, Mr Zakari Ladan, described the persistent bestial attacks without the government’s help as “frustrating”.
Ladan regretted that many of his members were losing their investments daily.
He said more than 17 farmlands, totalling about 14 hectares, with crops such as maize, rice, tomato, pepper, watermelon, sweet melon, carrot, and okro, were destroyed.
He valued their loss at nearly N7 million. Most of the destroyed crops were due to be harvested in a few days.
“We are tired of these hippos coming out of the river to invade our farms, located as far as two kilometres away.
“The attack has become a trend, and for years, we have suffered without the government’s help whatsoever.
You can imagine losing 14 hectares of crops in one night. This shows the large hippo population in our community and its impact on food security.
We need urgent assistance. Many farmers were affected, and farming is their only source of livelihood,” Ladan said.
A maize farmer, Malam Mohammed Zengina, also lost his farmland in the attack. He lost over one-and-a-half hectares of maize and other vegetables to the hippos in one night.
Zengina said he lost nearly N800, 000 to the attack, adding that his crops would have been due for harvesting in two weeks’ time.
He appealed to the State Government to come to his aid, saying that he couldn’t continue farming without support because he had yet to recover from similar attacks in the past.
Bello Mohammed is a cluster head of rice farmers in the community. His group pools N150,000 to pay hunters monthly to guard their 20-hectare rice farms.
Mohammed regretted that, despite the security measures, the dangerous beasts still invaded their farmlands.
Other farmers also shared similar tales of hippos invading their farmlands and destroying their crops.
Dr Barnabas Malle, Gombe State Commissioner of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry and Cooperatives, said the State Government was aware of the attack.
Malle said that an official from the ministry had gone to assess the extent of the destruction and report back for appropriate action.
He said a full report would be submitted to Gov. Inuwa Yahaya for consideration.
He urged the affected farmers to exercise patience. He said the State Government was looking into the matter and would come to their aid.
“We will analyse the report and see the extent of the destruction and decide if it is for compensation or if we can refer to the State Emergency Management Agency,” Malle said.
